Winding mechanism



June 1, 1937. J. M ARTHUR WINDING MECHANISM Filed March 2, 1935 4Sheets-Sheet 1 June 1, 1937. J. M ARTHUR WINDING MECHANISM Filed March2, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 M7267: %%Zw;

June 1, 1937. J. McARTHUR WINDING MECHANISM Filed March 2, 1935 4Sheets-Sheet 3 Jun 1, 1937. J, MGARTH R 2,082,562

WINDING MECHANISM Filed March 2, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented June 1,i937 UWETEE STATES WINDING MECHANISM Joseph McArthur, James Heddonsporation of Michigan Application March 2,

Claims.

The winding mechanism of the present invention is designed primarily,though not exclusively, for use in accurately applying winding threadsto desired areasof fishing rods under 5 conditions which require the useof fine silk thread and a uniform application of the windings/in closelyspaced relation to one another. Heretofore this work has been performedby hand, but the work is of a character which requires very closeapplication and skillful performance in order to attain satisfactoryresults, and even with the exercise of the utmost care by skilledoperators it is impossible to secure uniformity in the result, sincebodily and mental fatigue and lack of continued attention, as well asthe impossibility of maintaining a uniform tension on the windingthread, are factors which affect the character and quality of theresulting product. The difficulty is also enhanced by the fact thatfishing rods are of varying flexibility from the butt end toward thetip, so that the rotating of the flexible rod by hand results in adisturbance of the accuracy of the operation.

The machine of the present invention is designed to provide means forrapidly and uniformly rotating the rod and holding it meanwhile instraight alignment to prevent lateral displacement or whipping due toflexibility, and 30 at the same time to provide means for evenlyapplying the windings under uniform tension and at the required pitch toproduce a compact winding of the desired dimensions and under conditionswhich permit the operator to perform a the work without fatigue and at amuch more rapid rate than is possible by hand manipulation.

The invention in particular is directed to the means for supporting therod during the winding operation; to the means provided for turning therod either manually or by power; to the means provided for manipulatingthe feeding of the needles either manually or by power; to the meansprovided for regulating the tension of the thread, and to the generalconstruction of the machine as a whole.

Further objects and details will appear from the description of theinvention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein,-

50 Figure 1 is a plan view of the machine partially broken away throughthe center; Fig. 2 is an end elevation; I

Fig. 3 is a view of the clutch mechanism taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation of the clutch Dowagiac, Mich, assignorto Sons, Dowagiac, Mich, a cor- 1935, Serial No. 8,975

mechanism and associated parts taken on line il of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a detail of the screw feed and associated mechanism taken online 5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a detail showing the hand wheel and ratchet for manuallyrotating the rod;

Fig. 7 is a detail showing one of the roller guides for holding the rodin position to permit rotation;

Fig. 8 is a view of the same at right angles to the position illustratedin Fig. '7;

Fig. 9 is a detail of the needle and tension mechanism taken on line 9of Fig. 1;

Fig. 10 is a view of the same mechanism at right angles to the positionillustrated in Fig. 9; i

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of the clip em ployed for temporarilyholding the winding upon the rod; and

Figs. 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 are details showing one of the guides duringvarious stages in the winding operation.

The machine is mounted upon an elongated base plate 20 which near oneend has mounted thereon an upright end plate 2| provided at its loweredge with a flange 22 for attachment to the base plate. The end platehas secured to its inner face a journal sleeve 23 which journals the endof a chuck shaft 24 which is also carried through a journal 25 andterminates atits inner end in a chuck 26 adapted to receive the butt endof a fishing rod 21 or other rod to which the winding is to be applied.

The chuck shaft has keyed thereon a ratchet wheel 28 having saw teethadapted to be engaged by a dog 29 pivoted tothe face of a hand vvlheel3D freely mounted upon the chuck shaft 2 The chuck shaft at its outerend is provided with a spur pinion 3| which constitutes a part of a geartrain comprising the gears 32, 33, 34 and 35, which latter gear 35 ismounted upon the end of a feed shaft 36 carrying a worm gear 31 andterminating in a screw feed 38. The worm gear 3'5 meshes with a worm 39keyed upon a countershaft 4E) journalled upon standards 4! and carryingat its outer end a cone clutch element 42 having upon its cone face afriction band it. The cone clutch element cooperates with a drivingclutch element M freely mounted upon the shaft and recessed on its innerface to afford a conical clutching surface 45, and provided on its outerface with three grooved pulleys 46, 41 and 68.

The freely mounted clutch element 44 is pro-v vided with an outwardlyprojecting centrally disposed pin or stud d9 which coacts with a wedgearm 50 mounted upon a rock shaft 5! journalled transversely of the baseplate through journal mountings 52, and provided on its opposite endwith a hand lever 53 for manual adjustment. The arrangement is such thatas the wedge arm 58 is turned it will cam against the pin 39 and forcethe freely mounted clutch element 44 inwardly into frictional engagementwith the friction band 413 on the clutch element ml which is heldrigidly upon the worm shaft 46 by means of a set screw 54.

Power is imparted through a pulley band 55 carried by a selected one ofa group of groove pulleys 56, 5i and 58 on a motor shaft 59 driven by amotor 60 mounted upon standards at. The arrangement shown affords adifferential drive depending upon the pulleys selected for transmissionof power through the band 55. The driving train shown is one whichserves to impart a very slow rotation to the feed shaft 36 through theworm gearing, which slow rotation is speeded up through the gear trainshown, so that the chuck shaft which carries the rod will be rapidlyrotated concurrently with the slow rotation of the feeding mechanism.

The inner end of the feed shaft 36 is journalled within a journalstandard 52 which standard also affords a journal mounting 63 for aslidable rock shaft E l, the opposite end of which is journalled withina standard 65. The slidable rock shaft has pinned thereon a sleeve 65having a threaded finger 6! which is recessed and threaded to engage theunder side of the feed screw 38 into mesh with which it is normally heldby a weighted arm 68, which also serves as a handle to permit thethreaded finger 6? to be disengaged from the screw feed as occasion mayrequire. The endwise movement of the rock shaft is limited by inner andouter stop collars 59 and ill, which are secured on opposite sides ofthe journal mounting 65.

The slidable rock shaft 6 serves 'as a mounting for the desired numberof needles H which carry the winding thread to the rod. Each of. theneedles is provided near its end with an eye 72 through which the threadruns after being carried between a tensioning device comprising upperand lower beveled disks l3 and 74 which are held in frictional contactwith one another by the medium of a coil spring 75 adapted to beadjusted by a thumb nut it carried upon a split screw post ii. Thebeveled disks in conjunction furnish a groove to permit the easyinsertion of the thread which is carried out through a guide finger l8and through the eye of the needle and around the rod.

Where it is desired to simultaneously apply windings on the oppositesides of a line guide l9 provided with oppositely extending feet orprongs at, it is necessary to arrange the needles in pairs, as shownnear the center of Fig. 1, although where a single winding only is to beapplied, a single needle can be used, as shown to the right of Fig. 1.

Where two needles are employed, one of the needles is mounted within ablock 8! and the companion needle within a supplementaryplate 82, whichplate 82 is secured to the block by a screw 83 properly spaced ifdesired by the use of a shim 84. The block carries a platform 85 forboth of the tension devices, as shown in Figs. 9 and 10. Where a singleneedle is employed, the arrangement is practically identical with thatdescribed save for the omission of the supplementary plate 82. The block8i is provided with a thumb screw 86 which bears against the rock shaft64, which permits the block to be locked in adjimted position on theshaft.

In order to properly support the fish rod or the like during the windingoperation and prevent whipping or lateral movement thereof, the rod issupported by roller mountings, best shown in Figs. 7 and 8. Each ofthese mountings includes a plate Bl which is provided with a dovetailgroove 88 along its lower edge, which groove fits upon a dovetail rib 89formed on the upper surface of a rider block 9t provided with a groove9! to straddle a guide rail 92 which extends longitudinally of the baseplate 29 and is suitably supported thereon. The rider block is held inlongitudinally adjusted position upon the guide rail by a hand screw 93which permits suitable adjustments to be made.

For the required transverse adjustments, the plate 8'! is provided witha split 94 along its under edge, and the divisions of the split platemay be drawn together by a hand screw 95, tightly clamping the plateupon the transversely extending dovetail ridge 89.

The plate 87 near its upper end is cut away to afford an upstandingtongue 96 which mounts a rounded upper roller 91 coacting with a lowerroller 98 similarly mounted, and the two rollers in conjunctioncooperate with an adjustable roller 99 carried by an L-shaped lever I80,the lower horizontal arm ID! of which is pivoted upon a pin H32 carriedby a boss 13 projecting laterally from the plate 81. The L-shaped leveris acted upon by a coil spring Hi l, the inner end of which is made fastto the plate 8'1 and the outer end of which is made fast to the L-shapedlever at or near its elbow, the spring being so disposed that when thelever stands upright the spring serves to draw the roller 99 intocontacting relation to the fish rod or other work being wound, but whenthe lever is drawn downwardly it will swing the spring beyond thepivotal mounting for the lever, so that in this adjustment it will serveto hold the rollers 99 away from the rollers 91-98. V

In order to instantly stop the rotation of the rod after the power drivehas been unclutched, a brake mechanism is provided, which is bestillustrated in Fig. 3. This brake mechanism consists of an arcuate brakeshoe I05 provided with a brake lining H16 which bears against the drumshaped body of the driven clutch element 42. The brake shoe is carriedat the outer end of an arm Nil which is urged upwardly by a spring I 88,the arm being mounted upon the clutch operating shaft 5|.

Operation In use, the line guides or other fittings are first secured inposition as with cement, and the butt end of the fish rod is theninserted into and clamped within the chuck 26, the adjustable rollersbeing thrown back to permit the rod to be positioned. After the butt endhas been firmly clamped within the chuck, the lever I will be swunginwardly to bring the roller 99 into properly adjusted relation to therollers 51 and 98. In view of the fact that three rollers are employed,a proper contact at three separated points around the periphery of' therod will be made, and in order the rod with relation to the axis of thechuck, the necessary cross adjustment can be made by to exactly centerloosening the hand screw 95 and adjusting the plate 81 to the desireddegree.

Similar adjustments can be made to exactly position the various portionsof the tapered fish rod and to compensate for variations in the diameterof the rod from the butt end to the tip. After such adjustments aremade, the rod may be rotated without any lateral movement or whipping,and the rollers will afford the necessary support required to maintain afiexible rod in properly aligned relation.

With the needles properly spaced to apply the windings *to the desiredportions of the rod, the winding threads are carried through the eyes ofthe needles, which are adjusted to the desired positions along the rockshaft 64, and the winding operation is started by first clamping theends of the winding threads by the use of spring clips Hi9, which may beof the conventional type shown in Fig. 11 or of any other suitable type,which use of the clips is shown in Fig. 13. Thereafter, the operator mayimpart a few preliminary turns to the rod to start the winding thread bythe use of the hand wheel 30, or by the temporary application of power,after which if desired a drop of adhesive H may be applied, asillustrated in Fig. 14, and by overlapping the end of the thread withthe preliminary turns of the winding, the operation may proceed withouttying the ends of the thread. After the preliminary turns are properlyapplied, the clips are removed and the winding will proceed upon theoperation of the clutch lever 53, which throws the cone clutch elementsinto clutching relation and thus imparts a relatively rapid motion tothe rod concurrently with a relatively slow endwise feeding movement tothe rock shaft 64, which carries the needles and tension mechanism.

The winding operation will thus continue, throughout the intended extentand until both of the legs or prongs of the line guide have been wound,the winding operation on one side of the line guide proceeding upwardlyalong the prong and on the other side downwardly along the prong untilthe prongs have been completely wound, at which point the operator willunclutch the drive and throw the brake, which instantly stops therotation of the rod, after which the operator severs the thread andapplies to the end thereof a drop of adhesive III, which cements theterminus of the thread and completes the operation. The brake mechanismwill instantly stop the rotation of the rod, and the operator also canat any time control the feeding advance of the Wrapping by lifting theweighted arm 68, which breaks the screw feeding train and preventsfurther longitudinal movement to the needles save by hand operation.

The operating levers are conveniently arranged with relation to theoperator, so that it is easy at any time to switch from a uniformfeeding machine operation to a hand operation, which is desirable notonly at the beginning and the end of the winding operations but alsounder conditions which may require the application of a few specialwindings which may be taken care of by hand manipulation, after whichthe regular machine winding can be resumed.

The method of holding and supporting the rod is one which permits easyand accurate adjustment with relation to the needles and also withrelation to the axis of the chuck drive, so that provision is made forthe winding of rods of varying diameter and taper and for the correctlongitudinal adjustment of the needles for spacing of the wrappingsaround the line guides and elsewhere, as desired, along the rods, allportions of the machine being within easy control of the operator at alltimes.

By the provision of the thread tensioning devices and the accuracy withwhich the rotation of the rod may be regulated, it is possible to secureprecision and uniformity in the winding in much greater degree than hasheretofore been possible in winding operations performed entirely byhand, which invariably resulted in variations in tension and in thespacing of the convolutions even where the utmost skill was employed.

Although the invention has been designed particularly to meet thespecial requirements involved in the winding of tapered flexible fishingrods, the mechanism is equally adaptable for use under conditions inwhich rapidity and accuracy in adjustment and in the winding isrequired, so that in referring to fishing rods it will be understoodthat no limitation with regard to the possible uses of the machine isintended. Nor is the invention limited to the application of thread asthe winding material, since wire or the like may be employed in caseswhere a metallic winding is required.

I claim:

1. A device for applying binding windings to areas of a tapering fishingrod comprising a. chuck mounted to support the butt end of said rod,means movable longitudinally of the rod for traversing a winding strandover a relatively short area of the rod thus supported, means forcausing relative rotation between the rod and traversing means, and aradially adjustable steady rest mounted independently of the traversingmeans for radially supporting the tapering rod beyond the chuck andadjacent the area of winding.

2. A device for applying binding windings to areas of a flexibletapering rod comprising a rotatably mounted chuck adapted to operativelysupport one end of said rod the opposite end being unsupported, meansmounted for movement longitudinally of said rod for traversing a Windingstrand over a relatively short area of the rod thus supported, and aradially adjustable steady rest mounted independently of said traversingmeans for adjustment longitudinally of the rod, said steady restproviding the sole supporting means for said tapering rod beyond thechuck and adjacent the area of winding.

3. A device for applying binding windings to areas of a tapered flexiblerod comprising a rotatably mounted chuck adapted to operatively supportone end of said rod only, means mounted for movement longitudinally ofthe rod for traversing a winding strand over a relatively short area ofthe rod thus supported, and a steady rest mounted independently of thetraversing means for supporting the rod beyond the chuck and adjacentthe area of winding, said rest having relatively adjustable supportingmembers to accommodate therebetween varying rod diameters adjacent theareas to be wound.

4. A device for applying binding windings to areas of a. flexibletapering rod comprising a chuck mounted to rotatably support one end ofsaid rod, means for traversing winding strands over relatively shortareas of the rod thus supported, means for rotating said rod and feedingsaid traversing means relative to the rod,

and steady rest means mounted independently of the traversing means foradjustment longitudinally with respect thereto for supporting the rodadjacent each zone of winding.

5-. A device for binding line guide mountings to a tapering fishing rodcomprising a chuck mounted to support the butt end of said rod, meansmovable longitudinally of the rod for traversing a winding strand over arelatively short area of the rod and line guide mounting, means forcausing relative rotation between the rod and strand traversing means,and a radially adjustable steady rest mounted for adjustment along saidrod independent of said traversing means for radially supporting thetapering rod beyond the chuck and adjacent the line guide mountings.

JOSEPH McARTHUR.

